With A Night at the Opera Queen made the album that changed everything for the band. Released in November 1975, it holds “Bohemian Rhapsody” and gave Queen its first number one on the UK Official Albums Chart.

The short version

EMI released the album in the UK in November 1975, catalogue number EMTC 103, in an embossed gatefold sleeve. Roy Thomas Baker and Queen produced it, with Mike Stone as executive engineer and Gary Lyons on additional engineering. The sessions ran from August to November 1975 at several studios, among them Rockfield in Wales and Sarm East in London, where the album was mixed. The title comes from the Marx Brothers film of the same name, which the band watched during the sessions. It was reported at the time to be the most expensive album ever recorded.

A new start

The album followed a long dispute that ended with Queen leaving Trident and signing directly with EMI in Britain and Elektra in the United States. The band used its new freedom on a grand scale: the gatefold proudly announces that no synthesisers were used, and the credits list May’s guitar orchestrations, a harp, a toy koto and a ukulele among the instruments. “Bohemian Rhapsody” came out as a single on 31 October 1975, ahead of the album; repeated plays by the radio DJ Kenny Everett helped push its release.

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The songs

Twelve tracks, and no title track. Mercury wrote “Death on Two Legs (Dedicated to…)”, “Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon”, “Seaside Rendezvous”, “Love of My Life”, on which May plays harp, and “Bohemian Rhapsody”, whose operatic section is sung by Mercury, May and Taylor. Taylor wrote and sings “I’m in Love with My Car”, the single’s B-side. Deacon’s “You’re My Best Friend” features his own electric piano. May sings lead on “’39”, with Deacon on double bass, and on “Good Company”, and he wrote “The Prophet’s Song”, the album’s longest piece and the one prog listeners tend to single out. The record ends with “God Save the Queen”, May’s wordless arrangement of the national anthem, recorded at Trident in October 1974.

Reception and legacy

“Bohemian Rhapsody” entered the Official Singles Chart on 8 November 1975 and spent nine weeks at number one. The album entered the Official Albums Chart on 13 December 1975 and spent four weeks at number one, with a first run of 24 weeks. “You’re My Best Friend” followed as a single in 1976 and reached number seven.

The British weeklies were enthusiastic. Tony Stewart of the NME suggested it might be not only the most expensive British album but also the best, Harry Doherty of Melody Maker called it the band’s best work to date, and Phil Sutcliffe gave it five stars in Sounds. AllMusic’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine later described it as prog rock with a sense of humour. The prog historian Stephen Lambe did not count it as a progressive rock album as such, but saw it as a sign of how far the genre’s influence had spread. The album entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2018.

Where it fits

In my Queen guide this is the third album I recommend to prog listeners, after “Sheer Heart Attack” (1974), which comes just before it. The follow-up, “A Day at the Races” (1976), borrowed its title from another Marx Brothers film. If you are coming from symphonic prog, the obvious comparison is Yes, whose long-form pieces were at their peak in the same years.

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